Folding machine roll



Nov. 10, 1931.

R. IBELL FOLDING MACHINE ROLL Filed Nov. 7, 192s ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 10, 1931 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE 'y RICHARD IBELL, OF NEWTOWN SQUARE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE CLEVE- LAND FOLDING MACHINE COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION F OHIO y FOLDING MACHINE ROLL Application led November This invention relates to improvements in folding machine rolls, and has its greatest utility in connection with rolls working in pairs, where the paper is fed or folded and fed between the rollsof a pair. v

Rolls of various kinds have been employed for the purpose heretofore with varying degrees of success. At the present time the generally accepted practice is to employ for lo paper feeding a metal roll with roughened surface and a roll carrying spaced rubber covered wheels, the paper being fed between these two rolls, while for the folding of paper two cooperating m-etal rolls with their surn faces roughened are generally employed. The

operation of folding is satisfactorily performed by knurled rolls of this character, particularly when new, but after the fine, feather edge of the knurl, which actually grips the sheet, becomes` worn 'smooth in spots, the grip on the sheet is no longer uniform and the feeding of paper becomes less positive and accurate. Eventually the .rolls must be replaced with new ones at considerable cost. Another difliculty encountered is the filling up of the interstices in the surfaces of the roughened metal rolls by paper fibers and by powder applied to paper or printed sheets for one reason or another.

In recent printing processes, particularly for multi-color work, printed sheets as they leave the press are sprayed with fine particles of melted wax. This treatment is employed frequently where several impressions are necessary, and is for the purpose'of preventving the Wet ink from causing the sheets to stick together and offset. In printing establishments where this wax spraying is used, folding has become a majorpproblem. When folding this wax sprayed paper on machines using steel knurled rolls, the rolls actas fine Vknives which scrape and loosen the wax so that after a few thousand, and sometimes onl a few hundred sheets have been folded su cient wax has accumulated upon the rolls 7, 1929.' serial No. 405378.

itself uniformly over the surface of the roll, Y but always buildsjup'in'spots. In an efl'ort to get away from this `difliculty numerous attempts have been made to employ rubber covered rollsforvfolding waxedV sheets, but

the suction'action of the rubber loosens the wax from the-paper so that similar difliculties are experienced vasin-the case of steel rolls.

The felt covered rolls of the present inveny tion, having neither the fine knife scraping action of the lznurled' steel roll,nor the suc tion action of the' rubber roll, do-not loosen the wax from the paper. The amount of wax adhering to the rollsV istherefore re duced, and its accumulation upon other parts of the machine is practically eliminated. It therefore becomes unnecessary to stop the machineat Vfrec'ptumt intervals for the purpose of cleaning :out 'the wax as has heretofore been necessary. Furthermore', where large `drops of wax are inadvertently deposited upon the paper, due to improper functioning of the spraying apparatus, the flexible felt will be compressed sufficiently to permit the sheets to pass through the machine without disturbingsuch .abnormal wax deposits. It vis accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a roll having a feeding or folding surface which may be readily replaced at small expense.

Another `object is the provision 0f a roll surface such that powder, wax and loose fibers will not cling to it to an extent suflicient to interfere materially with its paper lgripping qualities.

Other objects and features of novelty will appear as I proceed with the descriptionV of those embodiments ofthe invention which, for the purposes of the present application,

v I have illustrated in the accompanyingdraw- In Figs. 1L and 2'of the drawings `I have illustrated a fragment -of a buckle-fold typeA folding machine having a feed table comprising rolls 10. Although I have illustrated these rolls herein as of conventionall tubular steel construction, it should' be understood' that the covered roll of the present inventionV could be employed for this purpose if desired..

This feed table is designed to deliver paper1 sheets to apairv ofV feedrolls 11whichl are positively driven by any suitable power connections. Sheets passing through the rolls 11 arefed between spaced guide plates l2 and 13(0mitted from Fig.,1 for thesake of clearness) .and intothe rolls 14 and 15 of a fold section. rlhis section comprises alsorolls 16 and 17 and fold plates 18 andv 19,the rolls and plates of the section beingarranged 1n the conventional way and operating -in a manner wellknownin the art. A sheet of papertravelling throughthe section may be buckled between rolls 15 and16 and again between rolls 16 and 17, or between one such pair only, as the nature ofthe work demands, but in. any'event each sheet must travel *between rolls at threeY different pointsinthe fold-section. The rolls 11, 14, 15,16 and 17 are :all constructed in accordance with the present invention.

However, 1t 1s particularly-important and pull-out roll is meant the `roll whichlirst comes into play, as regards any vgiven sheet In the machine illustrated in Figs. k1 and2, for example, the pull-out roll-for plate 18 is the roll,16,vwhilefor plate19 it is roll 17. In a three-fold section the pull-outrolls are the third, fourth and fifth rolls of the series.- If

these rolls are felt covered theprincipal advantages of my invention in the feeding-:ofparaiiine sprayed paper are realized to a large extent, regardless of the Characterof the 0ther rolls -in the machine.`

constructed of other relativelys-vunyielding materials possessing sufcient'- strength for the purpose. rIhis core is provided with a`sur- In carrying out the invention..tlie outer coveringfma/y` be applied to the core in various ways. lt may be manufactured for .instance in tubular form, the tubes being drawn onto the core from one end, such a construction being indicatedin Fig. 4. However I prefer to cut the `felt in strips and windit upon theroll spirally, as indicated in Figl,

cementing it down securely. It is advanta` geous, although perhaps not essential, 'when employingthespirallywound'strips illustrated in Fig. 3, to first glue astrip of heavy'pa'- per Ior like fibrous material to the metal. This paper strip is dampened before'it is applied,

and in drying .it is shrunk tightlyv to the iron core. y Thefelt stripis then woundnpon'f' the paper strip in a reverse spiral,l so that the turns of one strip cross those of the other. The-felt strip may ybe `very -securely glued forcemented to thepaper strip,and the'two y' strips reenforce and strengthen each other, i

forming vtogether a composite tube which is tightly fitted to the iron core. On this ac-I` countthe' character of the union between the,

paper-and ironl core becomes less important,

as relative movement. between the 'core and its .tightlyhfitted tubular cover would n'otbe Vaptto occur evenif the adhesive between the paper` and the corewere more or less inef-V fective.. advantageous to employ my lfeltcovered roll as the pull-out roll-for each fold plate. By

Inl-Fig. 3V I have shownl two stripsl of paperV 21 wound spirally'upon the core 2O to form a f singleflayer. Obviously this .layer could be Y formed of onestri-p or three stripswith thek of paper, after the paper-begins Eto buckle.

pitch of the spiralregulated accordingly.V In

this figure'also there are shown two strips' 22 making up .the layerA of felt, thef eltfstripsw-l being'wound spirally in a direction opposite 1 to the spiral of tlierstrips'21 but at the same pitch, the edges of the strips in all cases being -V hardened steel-bands or cups 23, those of one "V roll-running upon those vvof the roll'paired' with it, wherebyfa limitof approachbetween -the two rolls -is-provided. lVhen the adhesive employed in 'attaching-theicover material is f Y hardened-the outer surface of the felt is accu.-V 4,

rately finished-by grinding,and'thebands 23 are similarly finished, although generally 4to a diameter slightly different from that of the felt covered portion of the roll.

Fig. 4 serves to illustrate the application of the roll of the present invention to a folding machine of the knife-fold type, two such rolls being shown at 25. A sheet of paper in the process of .being folded is shown at 26, and a knife 27 is shown in the act of forcing the paper at the line of the fold between the rolls 25, which are so drivenvas to feed the sheet downward between them as soon as the movement of theknife 27 has enabled the rolls to grip the paper. In the case of a machine of this kind I have found that the surfacing of one only of the rolls 25 with felt will not suffice. Both rolls must be felt covered in order to obtain the best results.

In setting up and adjusting a folding machine embodying rolls constructed in accordance with this invention, the rolls of each pair are so adjusted as to cause the resilient felt covers to be slightly compressed along the line of engagement and for a short distance on either side thereof. These short, temporarily flattened surfaces, afford a good grip upon the paper sheet and impart a positive movement thereto. However the felt material, backed by the unyielding core of the roll, is able to transmit enough pressure to effect ashort, smooth fold when a buckled sheet of paper is passed between the rolls.

The metal end bands 23 definitely determine the minimum-spacing of the rolls. The

later are urged toward each other by springs in a well known manner, and the tension of these springs is adjustable, as shown particularly in Fig. 2 of the drawings, where the springs are given the reference characters 28 and the tensioning screws the reference characters 29. The felt coverings are particularly adaptable to rolls mounted in this manner, for the reason that it is possible to cause the sheets of paper being folded to eXert substantially the same pressure against the felt covering or coverings, as the case may be, regardless of the sheet thickness or number of folds.

For a thin sheet the spring tension will be set substantially at the maximum. For a thicker sheet or a folded sheet the tension will be relieved somewhat, but as the thicker sheet travels between the rolls its thickness compresses the tensioning spring sufficiently to bring about the same pressure against the felt covering. The tension on the springs is still further relieved as the number of folds increases, and hence the pressure on the felt is maintained substantially uniform, enabling it to function to the best advantage.

While in the accompanying drawings and in the foregoing specification I have disclosed certain embodiments of the invention more or less in detail, I desire it to be understood that such detail disclosure has been resorted to primarily for the purpose of fully illustrating the invention, Aand is' not tobe construed 'as limiting the scope thereof.

I-Iaving thus describedv my'invention, I claim; 1

l. A folding roll for use in paper folding machines, comprising a core member, a layer of fibrous vmaterialrmounted on said core member, and an outer ysurface layer of felt mounted upon said fibrous material.

2. -A foldingroll for use in paper folding machines, comprising a cylindrical support andl a strip of felt wound spirally thereupon and secured thereto.

3. A folding roll for use in paper folding machines comprising a core, a strip of fibrous material wound spirally thereupon and secured thereto, and a Vstrip of felt wound spirally upon said fibrous material and se.- cured thereto, said two strips being wound in opposite directions.

4. A folding roll for use in paper folding machines, comprising a core, a plurality of strips one above another wound spirally upon said core, the strips ofV adjacent layers being wound in opposite directions, and the strip of the outer layer being felt.

5. A folding roll for use in paper folding machines, comprising a core, a plurality of strips one above another wound spirally upon said core, kthe strips of adjacent layers being 95 wound in opposite directions, and the strips of adjacent layers being cemented together to form a composite tube possessing inherent strength.

6. In a paper handling machine, a pair of feed rolls, one of said rolls comprising a cylindrical support, and a strip of felt wound spirally thereupon and secured thereto.

7. In a buckle folding machine, a fold section comprising a fold plate and three rolls, the pull-out roll being covered with yieldable material.

8. In a buckle Vfolding machine, a fold section comprising a plurality of fold plates and a series of rolls, each of the pull-out rolls being covered with yieldable material.

9. In a knife folder, a pair of fold rolls and aknife operatively associated therewith, both of said rollsbeing covered with yieldable material.

10. In a folding machine of the buckle fold type, a fold section comprising a fold plate and fold rolls, said rolls having metallic end bands and one of them having a yiel-dable surface between its end bands, springs for pressing together said last named roll and one of said remaining rolls, and means -for adjusting the tension of said springs, whereby the pressure exerted against the said yieldable surface by the sheets being fed may be set to substantially a uniform value regardless of the thickness of the sheets being fed.

11. In a folding machine, a pair of cooperating fold rolls having coverings of yieldingmaterial, said rolls having at their ends metalliebearigfbandscancentric with the-11011 axes adapted te' llimit themovernent-0the rolls toward each other;v springs for urging said rolls toward each other, and means; for@ 5 adjusting the tension of said springs, Where# by the-'pressure exerted againstr'the rollfcoverings bythe vsheets being 'fed may be-setlto substantially uniform value regardless of the thickness of the sheets being fedr- In' testimony whereof, -I hereunc' aii my signature. v'

RGHARDZ IBEWLL; 

